


you think i'm batshit

by yawwwrp



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff and Angst, M/M, changbin is a good boy, minho is a rebel with a cause, the cause is protecting stray cats and standing up to bullies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawwwrp/pseuds/yawwwrp
Summary: Changbin is new in town and gets saved from some douchebags by local bad boy Minho.
Relationships: Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin
Comments: 120
Kudos: 146





	1. Hello Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> okay so hear me out
> 
> i wrote this while i was drunk last night and at this point i'm not sure if i even want to continue this mess but i had a Vision while intoxicated yesterday so imma post it anyway ig
> 
> i don't know anything about cops other than running from them when i was a teenager so i'm taking some creative freedom here. also chan has been aged up by two or three years idk everyone else is like 18 (i think that's how old u are when you enter the last year of high school but i never finished highschool so i wouldnt know lol)
> 
> title is from Batshit by Lights - please show her lots of love, she's one of the coolest people on this planet

Life in the city was not all it was it was cut out to be, if you asked Changbin. After his dad got promoted to the metropolitan police force a few weeks ago, he moved to the city with him, living in a small apartment while his mom and sister stayed in the suburbs. Changbin’s new school was in the city and even though it was still summer break he welcomed the change of scenery. What he was not fond of though was his walk back home, especially late at night.

He walked the late night streets from the bus stop back to his dad’s apartment after hanging out with his friends back home, cautiously looking out for anyone crossing his path. Two days after he moved here, his dad had warned him not to go out late at night, their apartment being in the more seedy part of town. His dad was getting a cop’s salary, paying both half for their place back home and the apartment in the city center, so the weird part of town was what they had to deal with. That’s how he explained it to Changbin. 

Changbin looked up to his dad and had seen him as a hero since he was a little kid. A police man for a father, a stand up citizen who sought out justice on the streets. Now that Changbin was only a few weeks away from his final year of high school, he still thought the same.

Now, as he was walking the dimly lit streets back home, he once again wished his dad had gotten an apartment somewhere else though. As he passed by a tipped over trash can, he got spooked by a stray cat jumping out of a trash pile and quickened his pace a little. Why were there so many cats around this area anyway?

He looked back at the cat that disappeared into the night shadows and when he fixed his gaze forward again, saw three shadows under the street light. If he ignored the nightly roaming drug addicts and got out of this alley around the corner and down the main street, he would be home. 

“Look at this little guy”, the biggest of the three howled as Changbin got closer to them. “School kid, huh?”

Changbin stopped in his tracks as the guys got closer to him. He glanced over his shoulder to see another shadow blocking his way out back of this alley. Not good.

The three on one side got closer to him and he could make out their faces a bit more clearly. Not junkies then - much worse, people his own age.

“Isn’t that cute? Hey, what school are you going to, kid?”

Changbin was paralyzed. He frantically tried to recall what his dad taught him about self defence, grabbing the strap of his messenger bag between his hands. 

“He asked you a question.” One of the guys stepped close to him, grin on his face, pulling out a pocket knife. “You better answer him.”

All thoughts left Changbin’s brain. He would like to call himself brave but when it comes down to it, like right now, he would very much like to not be in this situation.

“I said, what school do you go to?” The biggest of the guys grabbed him by the hem of his shirt and pulled him off the ground as if he were a bag of flour. The guy with the knife next to him let out a laugh that Changbin could only describe as evil.

“Should we make him talk?”

Before Changbin could react, he fell to the floor, the big guy tumbling to the back and the other guy’s knife clattering to the floor. Changbin’s wide eyes were fixed on the guy who appeared out of nowhere, standing between him and the others. The guy looked over his shoulder at Changbin and flashed him a smile. He looked back at the others clicking his tongue.

“I told you guys to not hang around this part of town anymore, didn’t I?”

The big guy had caught his balance again, squaring up for a fight. The guy on his left had taken to stare at the mysterious guy blocking Changbin with an angry look, while the knife guy looked panicked. His eyes trailed between the leader of their gang to the stranger like he was at a tennis match and settled on the big guy. “You said he wouldn’t come back here!”

Changbin was confused but couldn’t move. He had been harassed by some junkies and two prostitutes at one point on the way home, but they weren’t violent. These guys made his blood run cold.

“Stay down.” The guy in front of Changbin gave him a look, waiting for a response, and only turned his attention away from him once Changbin nodded. “Why don’t you guys do something more productive with your time? Pick up a book or something? Might increase your brain cells a bit. If that’s possible.”

This guy must have a death wish. Changbin swallowed hard as he made himself smaller. He had forgotten all about the guy at the back of the alley, until he was picked up roughly off the ground. He barely had time to make a noise before he felt the cold blade of a knife at his cheek.

The guy that appeared out of thin air turned around to look at Changbin with alarmed eyes before flashing a smile at his attacker. “So that’s how you want to play it.”

Everything happened after that happened so fast, Changbin’s eyes couldn’t keep up with it. He was once again dropped to the ground as his attacker got kicked in the face by the stranger, another knife falling getting flung somewhere into the trash pile behind him. For a moment, Changbin wondered if there were any more cats hiding there and hoped they wouldn’t get hurt before his eyes focused on the guy saving him again. He had switched from kicking the guy holding Changbin to kicking and beating the absolute shit out of the other three guys. 

Changbin was cowering on the floor, seeing the guy who had grabbed him run off into the night out of the corner of his eye. The fight happening in front of him made him think of a Bruce Lee movie - it all felt surreal.

He had never seen anyone, much less a guy his age in a leather jacket, fight off three guys at once, one of them being about twice their size. The whole fight probably only lasted a few minutes, but to Changbin it felt like a silver screen adventure. At one point, he heard a noise that was most likely someone’s bone cracking, a sound he had never heard before and never wanted to hear again. One of the smaller guy’s yowled in pain holding his nose, while the other one tried to get out of a headlock courtesy of Changbin’s mysterious savior. While that was going on, said savior kicked one of the big guy’s legs out from under him, making him crash onto the floor with a loud thump.

“Go! We’ll go!”, the guy currently being headlocked choked out, and the guy defending Changbin let him go as they all rushed out onto the main street, disappearing from Changbin’s sight.

Changbin was now alone in the alley with the strange kid saving him from those assholes. He was still sitting on the ground, unable to move, in awe of what he had witnessed. The other guy was panting, wiping his face on the back of his hand. When he turned to Changbin, his nose was bleeding and one of his lips was split. 

“You okay?”

Changbin nodded. He should probably say something. “Yes. Thank you...for saving me.”

The guy let out a laugh. “You shouldn’t walk around here at night, you know?” He searched around the ground for a moment, picking up the two knives. Changbin’s heart sank - great, so he was saved just to get caught up into little pieces by another dude.

The guy pocketed the knives and stretched out a hand at Changbin to help him get up. Changbin hesitantly grabbed it, being pulled onto his shaky legs.

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

Changbin shook his head.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” The guy grinned at him. Closer to him now, Changbin saw that the guy was about the same age as him, not an MMA fighter with twenty years of experience under his belt.

“No, I just moved here.” Changbin finally found his words again and let out his anxiety in a deep breath. “Thank you, please don’t kill me!”

The guy gave him a confused look before he laughed again. “Now why would I do that?”

Changbin shrugged his shoulders, still wary of the stranger. “Why’d you save me from those guys?” He would really love to know where his sudden courage came from and why it had been absent just a few moments ago.

The guy pointed his finger at the little cat sticking its head out from behind the trash pile. “I look out for them.” He looked around for a moment. “I’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to-”

The guy shook his head and took out the knives from his pocket. Changbin’s heart started racing again and for some reason, this was the time that his fists raised themselves up to defend himself. Where was that reaction ten minutes ago?

“Hey, don’t worry. Here, take them. I have no use for these.” He held out his hand with the knives to Changbin’s direction. “Go on, take them.”

Changbin didn’t trust this guy but he grabbed the knives as quickly as he could anyway. In the back of his mind he knew that this guy could probably kick his ass even if he was carrying an AK47 and a nuke but he shoved the thought out of his head. The dude had saved him after all.

They walked together, a few feet apart, down the alley and out onto the main street. The neon lights and cabs picking up drunk party goers on the side of the street a welcome sight to Changbin. If the guy tried to kill him now, there would at least be witnesses.

The guy stopped in front of a shop window and Changbin shot him a look.

“I assume you don’t want me to know where you live. Is this close enough to your home to not have you get mobbed by a bunch of high school idiots again?” He had his hands stuck in his pockets, blood tracks still on his face and Changbin couldn’t help but think that he looked awesome - like a movie character.

Changbin nodded again, feeling kind of stupid. He had barely said a thing after being attacked by a bunch of teenagers whereas this guy was fighting people in a backstreet like a comic book hero and didn’t even seem fazed. 

The guy winked at him. “Take care then. Don’t wander around at night.” He turned around and walked back towards the alley they came from, wandering off into the night.

“And then what happened?”

Changbin sighed. “I already told you. He left.”

Jisung, Felix and Hyunjin let out a collective  _ Ohhhhh  _ on the other end of the line. He had called his friends as soon as he had gotten home to tell them all about the incident, earning mixed reactions. Hyunjin threw shade at him for not being cool enough as a cop’s son, Felix genuinely seemed worried and asked him to come back to his mom’s and Jisung asked about every single detail pertaining to the stranger who saved Changbin’s ass.

“You should have gotten his number-”

Felix interrupted Jisung. “Before or after he got threatened by  _ TWO KNIVED CRIMINALS _ ?!”

Hyunjin piped up, “Didn’t Changbin say there were, like, around our age? Why do you think they’re criminals?”

“They were carrying knives!”

Changbin rubbed his temples as he listened to his friends. “Guys, I think I’m gonna head off to sleep. You know… it’s been a long day.”

The following minutes were spent with tearful goodbyes (Felix), trying to get more info on the mysterious stranger (Jisung) and calling him a baby with a curfew (Hyunjin). As he brushed his teeth, his mind kept drifting back to the guy in the leather jacket. He wondered what would have happened if he didn’t show up and where the hell he came from in the first place.

When Changbin went to sleep, the day’s events caught up to him and his exhaustion let him doze off, the guy in the leather jacket walking off into the shadows the last thing on his mind.

Changbin woke up the next day to six new messages from Jisung asking if Leather Jacket Dude had a twitter account as well as a missed call from his dad and a follow up text asking him to bring him lunch as he had forgotten to take any to the police station. Changbin had gone there a few times since they had moved and he liked it there - everyone was really nice to him. His dad had a cadet under him called Chan that was close to his own age that he got along well with, so he didn’t think twice about picking up some food on the way to the station.

When he stepped into the station, his eyes widened in shock. He saw the guys from last night sitting in front of one of the police officers and Leather Jacket Dude - this time wearing a hoodie instead of the jacket - sitting with his back to them in front of his dad.

For a moment, Changbin just stood in the doorway, unsure of whether he should enter the room or not, until Chan caught sight of him.

“Changbin!” He waved him over to Changbin’s dad’s desk, his dad now looking over to him, the annoyed look on his face giving way to a grateful one when he spotted the take out food in Changbin’s hands.

Changbin slowly entered, walking over to his dad’s desk, carefully avoiding the crooks from yesterday’s line of vision. He handed the food he brought to his dad, Chan clapping a hand onto his back.

“You’re saving our lunch break, man!” Changbin’s dad cleared his throat loudly, which made Chan focus on the task at hand again. “Oh right, we’re dealing with something right now. Sorry, Binnie.”

Changbin looked over to find Leather Jacket Dude staring at him, a slight bruise forming around his left eye, bottom lip still busted from the night before. The corner of his lips raised into a crooked smile at the sight of Changbin.

“Great, my witness has arrived.”

Changbin’s dad raised his eyebrows at the guy. “Excuse me?”

Leather Jacket Dude pointed his finger at Changbin. “He’s my witness.”

Changbin swallowed hard as both his dad and Chan stared at him. His dad sighed and flipped through some pages in front of him. “So you’re saying my son is your witness. You sure that’s the story you wanna go with this time, Minho?”

Minho. Changbin’s eyes were still fixed on the stranger smiling at him, from the chair at the police station. “What’s going on?”

Changbin’s dad looked over at him. “He says he assaulted some guys in the name of the greater good last night. And now he apparently considers you his witness.”

Chan set the food down on the desk, nudging Changbin in the side with an excited look on his face. “Wild, isn’t it?”

Changbin swallowed hard before speaking up. “It’s true.”

Both Chan and Changbin’s dad looked at him as if he had suddenly proclaimed that his greatest passion in life was to become a Celine Dion cover act at Coachella.

Changbin’s dad shook his head. “You don’t have to defend him, he’s not gonna cause any trouble for you.”

Leather Jacket Dude - Minho, as Changbin now learned - turned his attention to Changbin’s dad. “So I can go?”

“That’s not what I said. Those four-”, he pointed over at the four guys giving a statement to his colleague behind Minho, “are saying they got physically assaulted by you. Which, as you know by now, is a crime.”

Minho crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You know that I wouldn’t have hit them if they hadn’t done something wrong.”

Changbin was impressed by this guy’s sheer lack of respect for the police and the law in general. He didn’t seem the least bit intimidated, though by the way him and his dad were talking, it seemed like this wasn’t his first time in the hot seat.

“Am I not in the right here,  _ Binnie _ ?” Changbin looked up to find Minho grinning at him again. He didn’t miss his dad pulling an angry face at Minho dragging his son into all of this.

“Dad…” Changbin tapped his dad on the shoulder to get his attention. “They tried to beat me up, or cut me up, or whatever, feed me to the stray cats yesterday. He got them to back off.”

Changbin’s dad’s face softened and he let out another sigh. “Fine. Alright, but one of them has a broken nose, Minho.” He looked at Minho again who seemed like he couldn’t care less. “You can’t keep doing this. What would you parents say if they found out about this?”

Minho’s face hardened as he looked away towards the door. Changbin thought for a moment that he was going to bolt out of the police station before he started speaking again. “Do you really think they would care, Detective Seo?” There was a pause. “Didn’t think so. I should probably stop wasting your time here so you can get back to getting some poor pothead in trouble at the main station.”

With that, Minho got up and flashed a smile at Changbin again. “Nice to see you again, Binnie.” He walked out the door before Changbin could utter a word, his dad letting his head sink down onto the table.

“This kid is going to be the death of me.” Chan pushed the food Changbin brought closer to his dad, prompting him to lift his head again. “Thanks for the lunch, Changbin.”

When Changbin’s dad got home from work, Changbin was already waiting for him. He had been pacing around the apartment all afternoon, thinking of how to best get more information out of his dad regarding Minho.

“What’s up with this Minho guy?” Very smooth, Changbin. His dad looked up with a mouth full of jjajangmyeon and Changbin made a mental note to maybe try and learn how to cook in the last few weeks of summer so him and his dad wouldn’t have to order food every day.

“Why are you asking?”, his dad answered once he had swallowed. Changbin just shrugged. “He’s a troublemaker. Good kid, smart, but keeps getting into fights. He’s at the station every week because of some scrap he got himself into. I keep telling him to stop but he just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. I guess his parents don’t really give him much attention, so he’s just left to his own devices most of the time. He’d be a good taekwondo fighter if he just stopped punching people in the street.”

Changbin thought back on Minho’s busted face at the police station, smiling at him. He wondered if Minho even cared that he was hurt, if he even really felt the pain, with that smile on his face.

“Don’t get any ideas.” Changbin’s dad glared at him. “Find yourself someone that’s less trouble.”

Changbin felt a blush creep onto his face at the suggestion. “You have nothing to worry about.”


	2. Dead On Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this while i was in a team meeting at work because i was bored
> 
> honestly? i dont even know where any of this is goin
> 
> title is from dead on arrival by fall out boy bc im still emo trash

Two weeks left of summer break and Changbin was joined by his friends in the city apartment each weekend. While his dad went home to the suburbs on the weekends, his parents had allowed him to stay in the city by himself.

Both Felix and Jisung had convinced Hyunjin and Changbin to take a trip to the karaoke place down the street that evening and so they found themselves walking the streets, surrounded by people enjoying the last few warm summer nights partying.

As they left the karaoke place, Changbin’s throat hoarse from screaming into a microphone for two hours, they rounded the corner down main street, wildly debating on who had a more heart-wrenching rendition of some old trot song. Changbin’s money was on Hyunjin.

A loud scream to their left made them all stop in their tracks. Their eyes followed a young woman as she sank to the pavement, screaming after a lanky guy escaping with her purse.

He appeared again, quickly like a flash of lightning, and this time, Changbin actually saw him vault over a stone wall, landing swiftly on his feet and continuing the chase. Minho.

A mere moment later, Minho tackled the guy to the ground and as he grabbed the purse, the guy pushed himself away from him and fled through a shadowy alley.

Changbin and his friends watched Minho return the purse to the woman with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

“Is that-” Jisung didn’t finish his sentence.

“Leather Jacket”, Hyunjin finished for him.

Minho heard their voices and turned to them. His face shifted as he recognized Changbin and with a wink in their direction, he jumped back over the stone wall and disappeared out of sight.

“What the fuck”, Felix breathed out. “Does he have like a fifth sense for petty crime?”

Changbin was too shocked to correct Felix on the amount of senses a normal human has.

Changbin didn’t run into Minho again after that. His friends kept bringing up the encounter every now and then but Changbin was honestly grateful to not see him around anymore. He was all for criminals getting justice, but a teenager wrestling people in the streets didn’t seem right to him. That’s what police are for.

The summer break ended way too quickly and Changbin’s friends expressed deep sorrow over the fact that they wouldn’t be in the same class again this year as Changbin got ready for his first day. He would have loved to stay at his old school, but his dad had told him that a lot of kids from the new school get accepted into the police academy and Changbin couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

As he was introduced to his class by the teacher, a girl in the back row let out an appreciative whistle and Changbin prayed inwardly that he could just get this year over with without any disturbances. He was determined to sink himself completely into his studies, finish the year on a good note and stay under the radar.

Two dudes who were sitting to the girl’s left and right threw him a glare as he took his seat between two guys in the front row. They happily introduced themselves as Jeongin and Seungmin to him and told him to just ask them if he needed any help finding his place around. Changbin was generally suspicious of people, but those two seemed genuinely nice and it eased his worries about the girl and her bodyguards behind him.

Unfortunately for Changbin, Seungmin and Jeongin were nerds. They apparently took every single extra class they could get their hands on and had a different lunch break schedule from him, which left Changbin to wander the school alone until he found a spot in the field behind the school, sitting in the grass, listening to music under the last rays of the summer sun.

He let his eyes wander around the field for a while until his eyes spotted another guy hunched over a book about a hundred meters away from him. The guy didn’t seem to have noticed him so Changbin just watched him in peace for a bit before a realization dawned on him.

Minho. That was Minho, nose buried in a book, the jacket of his school uniform crumpled up in the grass next to him. Minho, at his school. Not good.

When his lunch break neared its end, Changbin got up to make his way back to the school, throwing a last glance over to Minho. He made no move to get up, just kept reading.

Of course someone like Minho cut class, Changbin thought. It didn’t seem like Minho cared about a lot of things, school included.

As fate would have it, the moment Changbin stepped out of his classroom at the end of the school day, he bumped into Minho.

When he looked at the other with shocked eyes, Minho looked surprised to see him before he grinned. He didn’t say a word but shouldered him lightly out of the way and walked out of school, leaving Changbin behind.

Trying his best to put his school day behind him, Changbin went to work out after school and eventually returned home to have dinner alone as his dad was working the night shift. His friends had called him while he had unpacked the take out and he had just finished filling them in on the events of the day.

“You should have just stayed with us!” Felix was pouting on the other end of the line. “Can’t you just come back to our school?”

Changbin explained to him once again why he changed schools in the first place around a mouthful of noodles. 

“I don’t know, man.” Jisung sounded thoughtful. “Maybe it’s good you go to the same school as him. Maybe you can convince him to stop being a vigilante in the streets and become a hero in the shee-”

“Don’t listen to him”, Hyunjin interrupted quickly. “Just stay out of his way.”

“I wasn’t planning on becoming friends with him.” Changbin wondered if Minho even had any friends. He didn’t really seem like a very approachable person.

“Good.” Hyunjin seemed satisfied with his answer. “So who were those other two guys you talked about, the smart ones?”

Changbin started the next day with a positive mindset and sore legs from the workout the day before. He would just go to school, get through the day and hopefully not run into Minho. Simple.

His optimism disappeared almost completely as soon as he entered his classroom, the girl from the back row sitting in his seat.

“Changbinnie!” Changbin hated the way she stretched out his name. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself to you!”

Her two goons were luckily not in the room yet and she moved over a bit to let Changbin put his stuff on his desk. She stretched out her hand towards him and flicked her hair over her shoulder with the other one.

“I’m Jinyoo.”

Changbin forced a smile and pointedly sat down in his chair, opening one of the textbooks in hopes of her taking the hint and leaving him alone. She pouted at him but moved back to her own spot, chatting with some girls surrounding her desk.

Seungmin, who had watched the whole thing go down from his spot, leaned over to Changbin. “She thinks she owns the school. She’s the most popular girl in our grade.” It was accompanied by an eyeroll from Seungmin.

Changbin let out a sigh and buried his head further in the textbook.

Jinyoo kept trying to pass notes to Changbin throughout the first half of the day, resulting in a dozen of crumpled up papers on Changbin’s desk that he hadn’t even looked at and the two guys next to Jinyoo glaring daggers at him.

When lunch break came around, Changbin let out a sigh of relief at the prospect of getting out of the classroom for a bit but was promptly stopped from leaving at the exit to the schoolyard by the two guys from his class.

One of them pushed him into the schoolyard with a force that sent him tumbling to the ground.

They towered over him for a moment before Changbin got back up on his feet. 

“Hey, watch it!” The tension in him had turned into anger. He didn’t want any issues, he just wanted to go to school in peace, why couldn’t they just leave him alone? “What’s your problem?”

“Know your place, fresh meat”, the taller one of the two growled and shoved Changbin’s chest. A small group of students had started to form around them, exchanging hushed words and worried glances.

He saw the first punch coming and ducked away from the guy, making him stumble. Changbin’s feeling of glee was short-lived, when the second punch, courtesy of the other guy connected with his jaw out of left field.

A chorus of  _ oohhhs  _ erupted from the surrounding students, but no one seemed to want to put an end to the fight. Changbin rubbed his jaw for a moment, which was enough time for the first guys to get up and hold Changbin’s arms behind his back. He squirmed in the hold, but couldn’t break free. Another punch landed right in his stomach and Changbin hunched forward at the pain.

The noise from the students around him suddenly stopped and Changbin’s arms were freed as he slumped forwards onto his knees, holding his stomach. He risked a glance up to his attackers to find a familiar face staring down at him.

Minho turned his gaze from Changbin back to the two guys. “Two against one, isn’t really fair, is it?”

The guys shared a fearful look and backed away from Changbin.

“How about we make it two against two?” A grin was plastered across Minho’s face and Changbin could see a bruise fading away under his left eye.

The guys mumbled something at Minho and left the scene of the crime as quickly as they had appeared there. The crowd slowly dispersed right after, people noisily commenting on what had happened.

Changbin shakily heaved himself back up on his feet. “Thanks.”

Minho raised an eyebrow at him. “Stay out of trouble, will you?”

A blush threatened to creep onto Changbin’s face and he was just about to explain to Minho that he didn’t exactly want to get beaten up by two idiots during his lunch break, but Minho left him there alone again, walking away from him without another word.

Changbin found himself sitting on the far side of the bleachers for the rest of the lunch break, looking down onto the soccer team going through practice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some smoke rising from below the bleachers and for a moment, he thought that something was burning under them, until he bent down to look at the space below.

Minho was sitting under the bleachers a few rows away from him, another book in his hand, cigarette smoke rising through the air.

“Can’t I just have one moment without this guy?”, Changbin groaned and buried his face in his hands.

He cut it pretty close with returning to the classroom today and was relieved to find the two bullies from his class not causing any more unfortunate incidents for the rest of the day. Jeongin and Seungmin shot him a worried look at the small bruise starting to slowly form on his jaw towards the end of the day but didn’t ask any questions.

“So he has a reputation? Imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.”

Maybe telling his friends hadn’t been such a good idea after all. 

Felix continued with a sigh, “Didn’t you say you were going to stay out of his way?”

“It’s not like I summoned him or am attached at the hip to him or anything! He just showed up.”, Changbin countered, voice turning into a mumble towards the end of the sentence.

“Maybe you should at least ask the principal if you can be put in a different class”, Jisung suggested.

“No, that will just make those dumbasses think they’ve won.” Changbin didn’t want any trouble, but he also didn’t want to think some bird brained classmates think he’s weak. He heard the door to the apartment open. “I think my dad’s here, gotta go.”

He joined his dad in the kitchen a moment later.

“What happened to your face?” His dad gave him a stern look as he pushed a pizza box over to Changbin. They really needed to start cooking for themselves.

Changbin shrugged and let himself fall into the chair opposite his dad. “Just some assholes from school.” He gave his dad a look to signal that he didn’t really want to talk about it and his dad dropped the topic.

“By the way”, Changbin grabbed one of the pizza slices, “have you seen that one guy, Minho, at the station recently?”

His dad raised an eyebrow at him. “Why are you asking?”

“Just curious.”

A long sigh escaped his dad before he replied. “He brought food for Chan and me the other day. As a thank you for not arresting him. Had a beat up face.” He narrowed his eyes at Changbin. “Bit like you know, just more bruises.”

Changbin put up his hands in surrender. “I have nothing to do with that! Like I said, just some guys from school.”

Thankfully his dad moved on from the topic and Changbin brought him up to speed with the gossip he heard from Hyunjin, Felix and Jisung earlier.


	3. We Both Coincide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i guess it continues
> 
> title from Coincide - Catfish and the Bottlemen

“He broke some senior’s wrist two years ago.”

“I heard he cracked the pervy soccer coaches ribs when he was still on the team once.”

“No, it wasn’t the soccer coach, it was his homeroom teacher, freshman year.”

Changbin rolled his eyes at Seungmin and Jeongin. He had subtly asked them for more info on Minho after their last class and was now caught in a debate of rumors between the two of them. He didn’t believe any of their stories.

Seungmin seemed to want to be the bigger man as Jeongin kept stubbornly correcting his stories. “Anyway, I think it’s best to keep out of his way. He’s trouble.”

Changbin spent his lunch breaks either on the field or at the bleachers, sometimes hanging out at the café across from their school, trying to avoid any more run-ins with Jinyoo’s goons. The bruise on his jaw was beginning to fade away after a week and his dad luckily never brought it up again, though he had suggested Changbin to take another self defense class from his colleagues at the station.

If Changbin was at the field or the soccer pitch, he would always see Minho hanging around, reading and smoking, but never acknowledging him. It seemed weird to him and for a while he wondered if Minho was stalking him, so he took to going to the café more and more.

As the leaves began to change color and summer turned into fall, Changbin had adjusted to school life better. Jinyoo left him alone for the most part but still tried to send him notes during class, which Seungmin or Jeongin usually intercepted before they reached Changbin. Jinyoo’s bodyguards hadn’t attacked Changbin again, though they still messed with his stuff if he left his desk unattended for more than a minute and tried to trip him up in the hallway. It was childish, really, and Changbin ignored it as best he could.

The school was organizing an autumn event in late October and Changbin didn’t really want to go - a sentiment Seungmin and Jeongin shared.

“They do this stuff every year”, Seungmin groaned as they packed up their stuff after class to get some lunch in the cafeteria on the one day they actually had lunch at the same time. “It’s annoying. Just a bunch of idiots getting drunk off spiked drinks and blocking the bathrooms to hook up in.”

Jeongin nodded with a sigh. “We went to the event in our first year and never again after that.”

As enticing and charming as the event sounded, Changbin wasn’t really keen on getting drunk with his classmates or getting frisky in a school bathroom stall.

They stood in line for lunch, balancing their trays in their hands, when Changbin heard the all familiar clacking of heels coming towards them.

“Changbinnie!” Jinyoo stopped in front of him smiling sweetly. “You’re coming to the school party, right?” Changbin opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off again. “Great! If you ask me nicely, I will be happy to accompany you!”

Seungmin and Jeongin exchanged eye rolls at her high pitched giggle.

“Sorry, I’m not interested.” Changbin’s voice almost came out as a growl. He was getting annoyed with her, couldn’t she just take the hint and leave him alone?

Her saccharine smile turned into a glare. “What?”

“I said, I’m not interested. But thank you.” Changbin turned away from her and focused back on the lunch line in front of him, moving forward at a snail’s pace.

He hadn’t noticed her two friends show up behind her until he was shoved in the shoulder by one of them.

“Didn’t you hear her? She wants to go to the party, so you better ask her to go with you. And be grateful if she says yes.”

Changbin let out an annoyed sigh. “I’m not going anywhere with her. Feel free to ask her out instead of me.”

He was still holding onto Changbin’s shoulder with an iron grip as his other hand reached out to knock the lunch tray out of his arms, sending it to the floor with a clattering sound.

Changbin stared at the guy for a moment before pushing his hand off his shoulder. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

The second guy walked closer to him, Jinyoo watching the whole scene go down with an arrogant face.

“Didn’t you hear the guy? Leave him alone.”

The voice made the two guys whip their heads around to the table behind them and Changbin saw Minho sitting alone at the table, eyes focused on the book in front of him.

“What? Are you his boyfriend or what?” Jinyoo let out a sharp laugh.

Minho tore his eyes off his book to look at her, then to the two guys staring at him, before finally landing on Changbin.

“If I were you, I’d leave now. Or we can meet in the school yard after I finish this chapter.”

The guys glanced back at Changbin with a glare before getting out of dodge, leaving Jinyoo to trail after them out of the cafeteria with an eye roll.

Seungmin and Jeongin nudged Changbin in the side at the same time.

“What the hell just happened?” Jeongin picked up the lunch tray and handed it back to Changbin. They finally reached the lunch lady, who unenthusiastically slapped some unidentifiable goo onto their trays. They turned towards the cafeteria tables, trying to find a free one, a lot of eyes still fixed on them. Changbin was sure that’s probably the most exciting thing that happened that day and they were the number one conversation topic right now.

“Sit”, Minho commanded from the table on their right, still not looking up from his book.

All three of them exchanged some worried looks before Changbin sighed and walked over to sit down across from Minho.

Should he say thank you? Why was Minho constantly around him and sticking up for him?

“Thanks.”

Minho closed his book and got up from the table. “Don’t mention it.”

As Changbin watched him leave the cafeteria, he had more questions than answers and eventually just watched Seungmin and Jeongin dramatically reenact the entire situation for the rest of the break.

“You should show these assholes who’s boss!” Jisung’s voice was muffled by the sound of his eating. “You know? Just beat ‘em up real good and they’ll leave you alone.”

“Dumbass. They’re two and Changbin’s just one guy.” Felix had given up on trying to convince Changbin to come back to his old school but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still worrying about his friend.

Hyunjin had finally stopped drying his hair and was back on the phone. “You’re going to that self defence thing at the station, right? With your dad’s colleague?”

Felix whined when Changbin confirmed it. “Do we know anything about those two dudes?”

Changbin had actually asked his dad and Chan about them when he had dropped off his dad’s wallet at the station earlier, which he had forgotten at home. “Yeah, they’re brothers according to my dad and Chan. Yoosan and Yooseol. Apparently they have quite the rep sheet but because their dad is, like,  _ rich  _ rich they’re always let go without a warning whenever they pull some shady stuff.”

Hyunjin snorted. “Great, Jinyoo, Yoosan and Yooseol. Three-Yoo.”

“More like Three-Ew”, Jisung helpfully provided.

Changbin found out three days later that Chan was going to his school event because it was his old school and he was invited as an alumni.

“What do you mean, alumni? You’re not even that much older than me.” Changbin was having dinner with them at the station after the self defence session.

Chan shrugged. “I guess they’re desperate for someone to come and everyone else declined.”

Changbin’s dad had practically begged him to go to the event in hopes of him hanging out with more people his own age that aren’t his friends from back home. Changbin spent most of his time either at home, meeting up with Felix, Hyunjin and Jisung or at the station and his dad thought he could use some more social interaction.

Changbin eventually agreed to go, thinking that if Chan was there, he at least wouldn’t get ambushed in the locker room by 3Yoo.

The reality of it was that Chan spent most of the event just mingling with people and trying to get as many people to call him their new best friend without even trying. After a while, Changbin just sat in the corner table in the back of the cafeteria, which had been decorated to match the autumn theme, while people danced and chatted around him.

He had promised his dad to be at the school at least until ten so he was patiently waiting for his time to leave, but it seemed like time just wasn’t passing. 

When he had gone to the toilet earlier, he was blocked in the hallway by Jinyoo, who was clearly pretty intoxicated. She had practically flung herself at him and only gave up after Changbin had pushed her away from him twice. 

He had returned to the table a short while later and tried to fish out his phone from his jacket pocket and a jolt of panic ran through him when he realized it wasn’t there. Jinyoo. She must have taken it from him.

A familiar face came into his view as Yoosan sat down across from him with a shit eating grin across his face. “Looking for something?”

Changbin narrowed his eyes at him. “Give it back.”

Yoosan let out a loud laugh which was drowned out by the loud music in the cafeteria. “Try looking for it.”

Changbin couldn’t help himself and launched his torso across the table to grab him by the hem of his shirt. “I said, give it back.”

Yoosan brushed him off and got up from the table again. “I’ll give you a tip - there’s no match happening right now.” He left Changbin’s table as quickly as he had appeared, with another obnoxious laugh.

Changbin had been looking for his phone for about twenty minutes now. At first he had circled around the soccer pitch but quickly realized that it wasn’t there. Now, he was crawling around the bleachers, searching every inch for his phone.

If Changbin had been annoyed about the Yoo’s before, he was now fucking furious. He angrily stood up and let out a frustrated groan. He must have gotten up too quickly, because the blood rushing to his head made him lose his balance for a moment and one of his legs got caught under one of the bleachers as his body gave in to gravity and fell down to the row below him.

He heard the crack of a bone before he even felt the pain.

For a moment, all he could do was lie on his back, catching his breath, as a searing pain shot up from his right leg. He frantically looked down and tried to move it, but the pain intensified tenfold and he let out a pained yell.

“Fuck!” He tried to breathe through it and stay calm as much as he could, given his current predicament. “Help!”

He tried screaming for help a few more times, before he saw a person walk down the row of bleachers he was currently lying on, coming towards him.

Changbin had never been more happy to see Minho’s face than in that very moment.

Minho stood a few feet away from him, an unlit cigarette in his mouth and stared at him with wide eyes.

“Shit.” He was at Changbin’s side within a second and tried to help him up. Changbin groaned in pain as Minho carefully shifted him to sit upright on the bleachers. “What happened to you?”

“My phone.... They stole it, it’s here somewhere…” Changbin could barely get the words out as the pain from his leg made tears well up in his eyes. “I think I broke my leg.”

Minho gingerly touched it and Changbin flinched. “Don’t!”

Minho didn’t spare him a glance. “I’ll be careful.”

Changbin couldn’t look down as Minho tried to roll up his pant leg and roll down his sock. “It’s broken.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

Minho’s face showed no expression. “It’s your foot, ankle I guess, not your leg.”

Changbin didn’t have time to react before Minho hoisted him onto his back with a groan. He let out a yell at the excruciating pain of the sudden movement and grabbed onto Minho tightly. “What the fuck, dude?”

“Hold still.”

Changbin thought that he was about to pass out when they reached the school and Minho placed him carefully down on the stone steps outside the entrance. “Chan. Tell Chan.”

Minho nodded and disappeared into the school as Changbin tried his best to will away the ache shooting up his leg to his spine.

Chan joined Changbin outside alongside two teachers and a small group of nosy students a few minutes later.

“Holy shit, Bin!” Chan handed him a bottle of water. “What were you doing? Your dad’s gonna kill me!”

Changbin let out a pained chuckle. “Not as much as he’s gonna kill me.”

When the ambulance arrived, Changbin was gently lifted into it, Chan joining him on the ride to the hospital. Before the doors of the ambulance closed, he heard a voice calling out to them and both Changbin and Chan whipped their heads towards the open doors.

“Wait!” Minho came into view, panting. “Your phone.”

He handed it off to Chan who thanked him and the doors closed.


	4. got a feeling, follow me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope yall are doin well!  
> make sure to bundle up and dress warm, its getting cold these days~
> 
> chapter title comes from Savage by A.C.E

Changbin looked rough. When he got home from the hospital and saw himself in the mirror for the first time, he noticed some scratches on the side of his face and he had a bandaged up cut on his arm, both injuries sustained from his fall down to the lower row of bleachers.

His dad had not killed either Changbin or Chan. He did however force him to stay home for two eyes to take it easy on his ankle, which was, just as Minho had said, broken.

Changbin had spent his time getting ahead of some schoolwork and catching his friends up on what happened at the party.

He was getting kind of antsy just staying at home all the time and was weirdly looking forward to going back to school again. That day, Changbin joined his dad for dinner and noticed a deep frown on his dad’s face.

“Tough day at work?”

Changbin’s dad sighed. “You could say that. I told you about the body we found a few days ago, remember?”

Changbin nodded. His dad wasn’t supposed to talk about cases with anyone but he knew that Changbin wanted to know and wouldn’t stop annoying him until he told him. He had told him about the body of a highschooler they had found in an alley three blocks away from their apartment, beaten and broken, multiple stab wounds and cuts. The thought made Changbin shudder.

“It happened again. Another body, guy was around the same age. Five blocks north-east of here.”

“So what are you thinking? Serial killer?” Changbin always wondered how someone could do such things to another human. He knew that most of them had years of childhood trauma or psychological issues that turned them into the monsters they were but it still baffled him.

“Looks that way.” His dad finished the meal and got up to take a shower. “Do me a favor and don’t run around too much at night, yeah? Eyes and ears open.”

Changbin nodded. The worry was apparent in his dad’s voice and he was scared for a moment that his dad would send him back to live with his mom, but nothing followed.

When Changbin finally returns to school, Jeongin and Seungmin are overjoyed. Apparently Changbin’s stunt was THE hot topic at school for the past two days and people were spreading rumors about what happened.

“Is it true that the Yoo’s attacked you?”, Jeongin whispers.

Changbin shakes his head. “No, I was just clumsy.”

Jinyoo makes her way to Changbin’s desk as soon as she enters the classroom. “My Changbinnie!” She whines dramatically. “You’re hurt! Do you want me to nurse it better?”

Seungmin rolls his eyes and turns to her. “Can’t you just leave him alone?”

Changbin sighs. “Jinyoo, go to your seat. I think we’re done here, don’t you?”

She glares at him for a moment before she pulls a face and marches off. Hopefully that was the last of that.

After school, Changbin joined his dad and Chan at the station. Chan was happy to see he was feeling better but his dad complained that Changbin should go and hang out with some friends instead of poking his nose into police business. Changbin could tell he was tired, he had worked overtime every day to catch the serial killer.

“Any new leads?” Changbin took a sip of coffee from a paper cup and Chan shook his head.

“Nothing so far. We increased foot patrol in your district but nothing’s turned up yet.”

Chan seemed exhausted too, dark circles under his eyes. Changbin felt bad for them.

“You’ll get him, don’t worry.”

He earned tired smiles from the two of them and watched them work through folders upon folders of potential suspects until it slowly got dark outside.

“Changbin, go home.” Changbin watched Chan make another round of coffee for him and Changbin’s dad and looked at the clock. Eight already. “Do you want someone to escort you home?”

Changbin shook his head. “I’ll be fine, it’s a short walk anyway.”

Wandering the empty streets home, he kind of regretted declining his dad’s offer. He was still a bit slow on his legs from the brace on his ankle and the thought of some psycho roaming the same streets as him made him feel uneasy.

The hair at the nape of his neck stood up when he heard footsteps behind him. It’s probably just somebody walking home from work or school, don’t go crazy.

He slowed down a bit, but no one passed him by. Okay, weird. He stopped and pretended to look at his phone before turning around quickly.

There was nothing, just the dimly lit deserted passage between two houses.

“And you’re sure somebody was following you?”, Seungmin asked as they sat down in the cafeteria. Changbin had told them about his experience from last night during their first class that morning and Jeongin and Seungmin had decided to skip their extra credit class to spend lunch with Changbin.

“Definitely. But whoever it was left before I could see them.” Changbin eyed the mysterious goo of the day for a moment before trying a spoonful. Not as bad as it looked, actually.

Jeongin tapped his chin thoughtfully. “You really shouldn’t be walking around alone at night.”

“You sound like my dad.”

Seungmin shrugged. “Well, your dad is right though. Don’t stay out too late.”

Changbin hadn’t noticed Minho sitting at the table behind them until he got up and shuffled out of the cafeteria.

“Man, that guy just gives me the creeps.” Seungmin shook himself for a moment. 

Changbin watched Minho until he disappeared around the corner. “He was the one who found me when I broke my ankle.”

Jeongin and Seungmin just stared at him. “What? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Changbin concentrated on the goo again. “I’d be fucked if he hadn’t found me, so I’m grateful for that at least.”

“He’s still weird.” Seungmin shoved the lunch tray away from himself. “Why do we even eat here? What even is this blob supposed to be?”

The days had grown steadily shorter and Changbin was surprised the sun had already set when he left school that day. It was still light outside but the absence of sunlight made the air feel much colder to him.

He walked home thinking of calling his friends when he got there and was lost in thought as he entered the alleyway to his house.

He was ripped from his thoughts by footsteps behind him again. He didn’t wait around this time and turned around, fully prepared to fight whoever was following him.

Instead, he found a surprised Minho staring back at him.

“Why are you squaring up to fight me?” He glanced down at Changbin’s fists.

Changbin lowered them. “Why are you following me?”

“I’m not.”

Changbin huffed out a laugh at that. “As far as I know you don’t live here. So.”

Minho rolled his eyes at him and walked past him to crouch down to one of the trash cans that was tipped over on the floor. Changbin heard a little meow before he saw a scraggly grey cat appear from behind it.

Of course, the cats.

He felt a bit embarrassed and walked the rest of the way home with a burning face.

“Are you sure he doesn’t have a crush on you?”

“Hyunjin, this isn’t a drama.” Jisung sounded annoyed. “Anyway, what about the situation yesterday? Did you tell your dad?”

Changbin hadn’t even seen his dad since he was at the station yesterday. He was pretty sure that his dad had taken to sleeping there between work recently. “No, he’s barely home these days.”

Felix sighed on the other end of the call. “I hope they catch that asshole soon. I’m worried about you, Changbin.”

Changbin found it heartwarming that his friends worried about him, even though they didn’t need to. He told them as much but earned strong protest from Felix.

Jisung eventually interrupted them, “So back to Minho… have you asked him if he has twitter?”

Changbin stayed in school long after his classes had ended the next day. He had some stuff to catch up on from the days he stayed home and some exams were coming up so he holed himself up in the school library until the janitor came by to tell him that he was closing up the school and that he should go home.

When he left school, it was already pitch black outside and he walked home as quickly as his ankle allowed. He should have kept an eye on the time.

For a moment he thought about taking a different route home today, just in case somebody was really following him, but the dull pain in his ankle forced him to take the quickest way.

He had barely entered the dark alley towards his house when he felt a hard impact on the back of his head and he turned around disoriented for a moment, a ringing in his ears and tears shooting up into his eyes at the pain. 

The last thing he saw was a guy in a black mask and baseball cap with a baseball bat and Minho running towards them from a distance before his legs gave out and he crashed down onto the pavement.


	5. all my role models are on tv for the wrong reasons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello my dudes~
> 
> unfortunately today is laundry day so this chapter is a bit shorter :(  
> but the next one should be a bit longer again!
> 
> as always, i am not to blame for anything that happens in this fic bc i've lost control over it
> 
> chapter title is from Role Models by AJR

Changbin blearily opened his eyes and felt a splitting headache. He tried to focus his vision as his eyes darted around the small room he found himself in. There was a dim light hanging from the ceiling, the room was cold and humid, a concrete box barely bigger than a bathroom.

He tried to touch his aching head but found that his hands were handcuffed around a pipe that ran along the wall behind him. A basement then.

He heard a groan next to him and looked over to find Minho slumped against the wall, hands handcuffed to the pipe as well.

“Fuck…”

Changbin’s voice was raspy when he spoke. “You okay?”

Minho blinked a few times. He had a bleeding lip and a shallow cut on one side of his face. “Where are we?”

Changbin let out a deep breath. He had to stay calm. “Basement, I think.”

Minho groaned again. “That fucker knocked me out after he got you.”

Right, he remembered now. “Why were you there anyway?”

Minho didn’t answer the question. “How do we get out of here then? Any ideas?”

Changbin sighed. “We just have to hang tight. My dad and Chan will get us out of here.”

A snort came from Minho and he answered in a sarcastic voice. “Right.”

What was his deal anyway? He wouldn’t have issues with the police if he didn’t constantly get himself in trouble. 

Minho was currently trying to wrestle with the pipe they were cuffed to. “Any idea how long we were out for?”

“Probably a while. The blood on your face is all dried up.”

Minho turned to look at him.

“Your lip and cheek.”

Minho continued trying to rip the pipe off the wall and eventually Changbin joined him in pulling and pushing it around to make it break free. It barely moved and a little while later Minho let out a frustrated noise and gave up, slumping back onto the floor. He was a little out of breath and stared at the ground.

“What makes you so sure your dad’s gonna come and save you?”

The question made annoyance flare up in Changbin. “He’s a good cop. He’ll get us out of here.”

Minho rolled his eyes at the answer.

“Fuck you, I’m serious.”

They just sat in silence for a while before Minho got up and tried his luck with the pipe again. Changbin almost didn’t hear his voice over the clanking of the handcuffs on the pipe. “The cops are worse than the criminals.”

“Bullshit.”

Minho stopped for a moment to raise an eyebrow at him. “Let me guess, you’re gonna be a cop one day.”

Changbin nodded but didn’t say anything.

Minho joined Changbin on the floor again and they didn’t continue their conversation. The only noise filling the room was the occasional rushing of water through the pipe.

“Does your face hurt?”

Minho blinked a few times. “No. I’ve had worse.”

Changbin frowned at the statement. It seemed like Minho had a new bruise, cut or other injury every single time he saw him and it made him sad. His dad had said that Minho was really smart so why couldn’t he just stop getting into fights and channel his energy into something more productive?

Minho sighed when he saw Changbin’s expression. “I don’t need your pity.”

“I wasn’t pitying you.” Maybe feeling bad for the guy was the wrong move. “You’re an idiot.”

Minho let out a chuckle and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Why do you think so, oh wise Changbin?”

Changbin rolled his eyes and wasn’t even sure if he should continue wasting his breath on Minho. “If you stopped fighting people in the streets you might actually have a career with your grades. But it seems like you’re more interested in trying to act tough.”

“Fuck you.”

“Right back at you.”

They kept trying to break the pipe off the wall but their hands were starting to hurt and the chafing of the handcuffs was making the skin on their wrists tear up.

“I think it’s getting looser…”

Minho scoffed. “I’m pretty sure that’s wishful thinking.”

They took a break and sat back down again. The silence between them was as awkward as the tense atmosphere. At this point, Changbin was more annoyed with Minho than he was scared of the psychopath who put them here.

“What’s your deal with the police anyway?”

Minho took a deep breath. “Why do you care?”

Changbin tried to kick him from where he was sitting but his leg didn’t reach Minho. “At least I’m trying to pass the time before we get stabbed to death.”

Minho seemed to weigh his options before he started speaking.

“Had a cop neighbor once. I thought he was cool but it turns out he was a piece of shit who beat his wife on a daily basis and had a drug problem. He purposely let gang members go free to ensure his next fix.”

Okay that at least made a bit more sense to Changbin now.

“He beat me half to death when I confronted him.”


	6. Road Not Taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaand i'm back~
> 
> hope y'all are having a good day and are looking forward to the weekend! :D

“You confronted him?” That seemed like the worst possible idea to Changbin.

Minho nodded. For a while, Changbin thought that this was the end of his explanation until Minho cleared his throat.

“I saw him hang around the dealers while I was checking on the alley cats, so I asked him what the fuck his problem was and told him to clean up his act.” His eyes seemed to stare into the air, remembering the incident. “I was about eleven and he beat the living shit out of me and left me in the alley.”

Changbin didn’t know how to respond to that. He imagined Minho as a kid, trying to stand up to some asshole dude and a bunch of drug dealers. He waited to see if Minho would keep talking but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry.” The words seemed weak. “But not all cops are like that, you know? There’s good ones too…”

Minho scoffed. “Yeah, sure. I went to the station after I got out of the hospital and the cop I reported it to told me to go home and not wander around the streets. Nothing ever came of the investigation and the guy retired a year later. With honors.”

He got up again, trying his luck with the pipe. Changbin was still sitting on the floor, watching him for a moment.

“I used to look up to cops, you know. I wanted to become one, a little boy’s dream. But after that I learned that it’s better to just take matters into your own hands.”

With that, Minho shut the gates on talking about himself and focused on the task at hand and Changbin joined him a second later.

The pipe seemed to be barely hanging onto the screws fixing it to the walls and Changbin’s wrists felt like they were going to fall off, a little blood trickling down from where the handcuffs were chafing against his skin.

“I think we’re almost there”, Minho groaned. His wrists were starting to bleed as well. “Just hope no one flushes the toilet when we rip it off the wall.”

Changbin had to let out a chuckle at the comment. “You don’t want to be covered in piss instead of bruises for once?”

Minho paused to stare at him. Changbin just shrugged his shoulders.

“You shouldn’t go around beating people up all the time. Just focus on your studies, or do something more productive. You’re gonna get yourself into deep shit one day.”

Minho rolled his eyes at him and let go of the pipe. He leaned over it to fish a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his jacket pocket and stuck one of the cigarettes into his mouth.

Changbin made a face at him. “Do you really need to light it up now?”

“If I struggle with the pipe for one more second I think I might break off my wrists. So I’m taking a break.”

As he lit the cigarette, Changbin frowned at the smell of smoke. “Dude, we are in a closed room. It stinks.”

“And?”

“Smoking’s bad for you. And it’s disgusting. Don’t ruin your lungs.”

Changbin used his annoyance to pull at the pipe with all the strength he could muster and promptly landed on his ass.

The pipe had ripped loose from the screws holding it in place at the wall and the movement had made Changbin fall back onto the floor and Minho lose his footing, sinking to the floor a second later, cigarette rolling over to Changbin.

Changbin glared at Minho and stomped out the cigarette.

Minho raised an eyebrow but smirked. “Finally putting your muscles to good use, I see.”

Now that their hands were still handcuffed, but finally no longer stuck to the pipe, Minho and Changbin walked around the basement room to find anything they could use to get themselves out of there.

In the far right corner of the room, Minho had found a piece of the pipe that had disconnected from the rest of it when Changbin had ripped it off the wall.

Apart from that, the room was empty. Changbin was beginning to lose hope they would get out of here.

“You find anything you can pick the lock with?”

Minho shook his head. “Nothing. But we can use that part of the pipe as a weapon if the guy comes back.”

“If he comes back.”

“He will. Otherwise why would he have abducted us?”

Changbin knew Minho was right but he was getting frustrated. “Okay, what’s the plan then? When he comes back?”

Minho thought for a moment. “We’ll wait by the door. Your foot is still injured so I’ll try to kick him down to the floor. Do you think you can knock him out?”

Changbin stared at him. “With my fists?!”

“Maybe try the pipe instead.” Minho rolled his eyes.

They stood at the door for what felt like ages. Changbin’s body was aching and he was tired, exhausted. He looked over at Minho who hadn’t seemed to be panicked at any point since they had found themselves in this situation. Changbin wondered what Minho was up to when he wasn’t at school. He let his thoughts wander, thinking what Minho would be like if he had never run into his cop neighbor when he was a kid.

Would he be happier? He couldn’t picture Minho with a genuinely happy smile.

Would he be popular in school? Probably, he was objectively handsome.

The thought gave him a weird feeling so he shifted his focus back to Minho next to him who had nudged him lightly in the side.

“I think he’s coming. I heard footsteps.”, Minho whispered and Changbin’s heart started racing.

As he heard the sound of metal on metal, keys sliding into the keyhole to unlock the door, Minho rushed forward.

Everything happened fast after that. Minho kicked the surprised attacker’s legs out from under him as soon as he had entered the room, knocking him down onto the ground and tackling him. He kneeled down on his back for good measure and Changbin whacked him once hard with the pipe, the guy’s head slumping forward onto the concrete floor.

“Get the keys”, Minho commanded, already searching the guy’s pockets for their phones. 

Changbin dropped the pipe to the ground and picked up the keys the attacker had dropped. “What if I killed him?”

Minho was already halfway out the room, motioning Changbin to hurry. “It’s a plastic pipe, he’s gonna live.”

Minho locked the door behind them, trapping their abductor in the room they had been kept in. He handed Changbin’s phone back to him. “Call them.”

Changbin had figured Minho would call his own parents as he was trying to reach his dad but Minho just stood there waiting.

“Changbin!” His dad’s voice was staticky through the phone. “Where are you?!”


	7. bullet proof loneliness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyall
> 
> here's another one for you~  
> i'm currently writing to let out my frustration bc of christmas induced work stress and i just want a few days off TT
> 
> title is from Fall Out Boy's "i'm like a lawyer with the way i'm always trying to get you off (me & you)" bc i'm still emo trash
> 
> hope youre all having a great day!

Fortunately, Chan and Changbin’s dad were able to track Changbin’s phone and said they would be there within fifteen minutes.

“You’re not gonna call your folks?”

Minho was still just standing there staring at Changbin. He shook his head.

“But they’re probably worried about you…”

Minho huffed a laugh. “They probably didn’t even realize I was gone.”

For a moment, a hurt expression appeared on his face before he smoothed it into a blank one again. They waited in silence until Changbin’s dad, Chan and two more police officers rounded the corner. Changbin’s dad pulled him into a tight hug, while Minho pointedly looked at the ground.

“Can I go?” Changbin looked up to see him stretch out his arms for Chan to take off the handcuffs.

Chan made a grimace at the sight of his wrists. “We should get you guys checked out at the hospital. You’ll need to make a statement but you can do that tomorrow.”

Minho shrugged. “Let’s just get this all over with.”

Changbin’s dad leaned back to look his son in the eyes. “You okay with that?”

Changbin nodded. It would be good to end this once and for all so he could forget about it.

Changbin’s wrists got treated first and he waited in the hall with his dad and Chan for Minho to be discharged. The other two officers had taken their attacker to the station already and Changbin’s dad and Chan would finish up the statements with Changbin and Minho.

“How long were we gone for?”, Changbin asked as his dad handed him some water and a snack from the vending machine. With all the tension of the past hours, he hadn’t realized how dehydrated and hungry he was.

“A little over a day. I couldn’t reach you and got worried…”

Chan sat down next to Changbin in one of the chairs. “I don’t understand why he took both of you.”

“I don’t think it was his intention. He knocked me out in the alley and I just saw Minho coming from the other side so I guess he got surprised.” Changbin finished the whole water bottle within a minute. “What about Minho’s parents?”

Changbin’s dad frowned. “I called them right after we hung up earlier but they said that we shouldn’t disturb them.”

Anger began to rise up in Changbin’s chest. How could Minho’s parents care so little about their own child? He didn’t have time to give into his anger as Minho joined them a minute later.

Changbin’s dad handed him some water and a snack as well and Minho eyed him suspiciously for a moment before accepting them.

“Thanks.”

“We called your parents-”

Minho cut him off sharply, “You shouldn’t have bothered. Are we going to the station now?”

Changbin and Minho got into the back of the cop card and Changbin looked over at Minho who was staring out the window. The passing streetlights and neon signs illuminated his features and shining eyes. Changbin wondered if Minho ever cried. He seemed like there was always a cold anger in him, like he was angry at the world, he seemed lonely. Sad.

The nurse had cleaned off the dried blood on his face and they wore matching bandages around their wrists. Looking at them, Changbin was reminded of the dull, throbbing pain on his own.

Changbin’s dad and Chan were discussing something, their stream of conversation occasionally interrupted by the police radio.

Once they had given their statements, they found themselves in the back of the police car again at close to four in the morning, Changbin’s dad dropping off Chan first and then stopping in front of Minho’s house.

Changbin’s eyes widened. “You’re rich?”

“My parents are.”

Changbin’s dad got out of the car to round it and open the door on Minho’s side.

Changbin took the moment to whisper, “Thanks by the way. I think I’d be dead by now if it wasn’t for you.”

Minho threw him a crooked smile as the door opened. He slid out of the car, then leaned back in to look at Changbin. “You’re impressive, Seo.”

Changbin watched as Minho trudged to his front door. His dad got back in the car and was talking about something with him, but Changbin couldn’t pay attention.

Impressive? He really hadn’t done anything. Minho had been the one to call the shots and get them out of their situation. Impressive.

He didn’t realize it, but there was a smile on his face as he got home and finally fell into bed.

“You have to get the fuck out of the city”, Felix insisted angrily. 

Changbin had stayed home from school to catch up on sleep and calm down from the experience he had gone through and was currently sitting in front of the tv calling his friends.

“I can’t believe you were locked up with Minho for a day and you didn’t get his twitter accou-”

“I swear to god, if you bring up the twitter account one more time!”

Changbin had never really seen Felix in such an angry mood before. He had told them about what had happened and while Hyunjin insisted that he should sell the whole story to some film studio after the trial was done, Jisung was more hung up on what went down between him and Minho. Felix on the other hand wanted him to just come back home.

“Binnie, you’ve been injured like a hundred times since you moved there…”

Changbin sighed. “Guys, I’m fine. Besides, at least I got some experience with kidnapping now if I want to become a cop.”

“Okay, pause on the cop talk”, Jisung interrupted. “Did you and Minho really just talk about career choices?”

Hyunjin’s eye roll was almost audible through the phone. “Would you ask him about his ideal type while you’re being held captive?”

“I mean, yeah, probably.”

“You’re a dumbass.”

Changbin’s thoughts kind of drifted away from the discussion. He wondered how Minho was feeling today. He had texted Jeongin and Seungmin earlier to fill them in on what happened when they asked him why he was absent. They told him that Minho had come to school and that people thought he had tried to kill himself because of the bandaged wrists.

Why did he even go to school? He barely got any sleep and was probably exhausted.

“Earth to Changbin!” Felix’s voice pulled his head from the clouds. “What are you so distracted by?”

“Do you have ADHD?” Jisung sounded worried.

“You mean PTSD”, Hyunjin replied. “You okay, Binnie?”

Changbin snorted. “I don’t have either. Was just lost in thoughts for a moment, sorry.”

Felix just sighed and switched the topic. “Are you coming home after school tomorrow?”

It took Changbin a moment to remember that today was Thursday. He had planned on going home to see his mom and friends this weekend and was actually looking forward to getting out of the city for at least a little bit.

“Pick me up at my mom’s at six.”

The next day, Changbin spent most of his time at school retelling the story of his abduction to his classmates, who were suddenly very interested in becoming friends with him.

To Changbin, it was annoying. He just wanted to catch up on his schoolwork and then leave for the suburbs right after class ended.

In his lunch break, he decided to sit by the bleachers to get away from people questioning him, the cold air making his breath rise in little clouds before they disappeared.

He checked under the bleachers for a moment, expecting to see Minho there smoking again, but instead he found Minho sitting at the very bottom row of the bleachers, as always reading a book.

Changbin got a weird feeling in his chest and he wanted to get up and talk to him, but what would he even say?

He watched as Minho rubbed his hands, probably to get some warmth back into them, before he closed the book and got up to walk back to the school.

Changbin just sat there, watching Minho walk through the cold with a feeling he couldn’t decipher.


	8. i won't smoke (cause i know you hate the taste of it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellooooooooooooooooooooo~!
> 
> it's getting really cold these days and i just want to stay in bed all day :( make sure to bundle up and stay healthy!
> 
> chapter title is from Anything by Catfish and the Bottlemen

Friday night, Changbin went out for pizza with his friends. Saturday, he was busy spending some time with his mom who acted like she hadn’t seen him in fifty years. Sunday morning, he finally sat down to do homework and was then surprised by his friends barging into his room around noon.

“Can’t you just stay a bit longer?”, Felix whined, reading some comic book while lying on Changbin’s bed.

Hyunjin and Jisung were currently going through his closet trying to find the outfit most offensive to their eyes.

“Honestly? I think you should stay too. I feel like ever since you ran into this Minho guy you constantly run into trouble and get hurt”, Hyunjin added and Felix gave him a thumbs up without looking over. “I’m just saying, I think the guy is bad news. What if he’s stalking you and wants to make a suit out of your skin in two weeks time?”

Jisung held up a brightly colored hawaiian shirt. “That suit would still be more fashionable than this.”

Changbin rolled his eyes at them. “It’s not like that. If it wasn’t for him, things would be a lot worse.”

“We get it, you have a crush on the bad boy.” Hyunjin exchanged the hawaiian shirt for a pair of pants with minions sewn onto the back pockets. “What the fuck is this?”

Changbin felt himself blush. “I don’t have a crush on him! I’m just glad he saved my ass. And besides, I think he’s a good guy.”

Jisung and Hyunjin exchanged a look and stuffed the clothes back into his closet.

Felix had dropped the comic and lifted his arm to let his head rest on his hand, looking at Changbin. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He’s never once hurt me, he was just fortunately right there when something bad happened.”

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow and muttered under his breath, “ _ Because he’s a stalkerrrr…. _ ”

Changbin returned back to the city apartment later in the evening and tried his best to finish his homework, but he kept getting distracted.

A crush? Please. Minho may be a good guy but Minho was also a walking chaos of trouble. And that’s not what Changbin wanted or needed. Plus, Minho was handsome and had the whole brooding thing going on, Changbin was sure he had lots of girls or guys clamoring for him.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Changbin was fully determined to focus solely on school and minimize all distractions. He still saw Minho around school, the bleachers or in the schoolyard, but Minho was not paying him any attention. As usual, he was reading books and keeping to himself, though Changbin hadn’t seen him smoke since the abduction.

He also noticed that once Minho’s scratches and cuts had healed, he didn’t come back to school with new ones. He wondered if Minho was still running around town fighting people, but it didn’t seem like it.

Changbin checked on the alley cats every now and then on the way home, always seeing two bowls of cat food next to the trash cans. If Minho was still feeding the cats, he was still out and about. Maybe he had finally realized that he should stop getting involved with other people’s business and for a fleeting moment, Changbin thought that maybe it was because of what he had told him in the basement. The weird feeling was back immediately and Changbin tried his best to shift his attention off Minho.

It had started to snow outside towards the end of November and most students started spending their lunch break in the cafeteria to not have to brace for the cold. This unfortunately also meant that there were fewer free seats available, which led to Changbin sitting at Minho’s table on a snowy Thursday.

“This seat still free?”

Minho looked up for a moment before turning his eyes back to his book. “Not anymore, I guess.”

Changbin rolled his eyes at the answer and sat down across from Minho. It was awkward, just sitting here without talking, and Changbin felt like after what they went through together they should at least be able to have a normal conversation.

Fuck it. “What are you reading?”

Minho looked at him again with a surprised face - clearly he wasn’t used to people trying to have smalltalk with him. “Why are you asking?”

Changbin sighed. “It’s not an interrogation, I’m just trying to be friendly.”

Minho eyed him warily before closing the book. “Why?”

Changbin wrinkled his nose at the goo on his lunch tray but stuffed it into his mouth anyway. “Why what?”

“Why are you trying to be friendly?”

Changbin shrugged. Honestly? He didn’t even know an answer for that. “You don’t smoke anymore?”

Minho sighed and turned to him. “No.”

Okay, maybe he’s not great at conversing. “Do you ever eat anything? I’ve never seen you eat.”

Now that Minho was actually facing him, Changbin noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

Minho’s eyes searched Changbin’s lunch tray for a moment before picking an apple slice off it and popping it in his mouth. “There. Happy?”

Changbin frowned. Minho looked exhausted but before he could say another word, Minho got up and left the cafeteria.

He was almost out of sight and Changbin was about to turn his focus back to his lunch when he saw Minho’s legs give out. Minho’s hands reached out to grab the wall and he swerved himself around the corner.

Something was wrong. Changbin abandoned his questionable lunch menu and left the cafeteria. As soon as he rounded the corner Minho had disappeared behind, he saw Minho on the floor, leaning against a row of lockers.

“Shit!” Changbin knelt down next to him and took his face in his hands. “Minho! Are you okay?”

Minho blinked a few times slowly, then pushed himself back onto his feet.

“I’m fine.”

Changbin followed the still slightly staggering Minho down the hallway. “What the fuck, dude? Take it easy, you should go to the school nurs-”

“I said I’m fine.” Minho had turned around so quickly that Changbin had bumped into him, a blush threatening to crawl onto his face. “Go enjoy your lunch.”

Minho tried hard to sound angry, but his voice just sounded tired. Changbin didn’t know where his sudden confidence came from, but he just grabbed Minho by the sleeve and dragged him towards the library. By the way Minho was just letting himself be pulled around, Changbin thought that he must be at his absolute limit. He didn’t seem like the person to just let someone manhandle him.

Changbin pushed him down onto one of the comfortable couches in the back of the library and sat in the chair across from him.

“You have forty minutes left on your lunch break. Go the fuck to sleep.”

Minho stared at him with wide eyes, clenching his jaw. Changbin was ready for a snarky comeback, but Minho just lied back on the couch and closed his eyes. The tips of his ears were red and Changbin wondered if Minho was embarrassed that he let Changbin tell him what to do for once, but just a minute later, Minho was out like a light.

Changbin spent the rest of his break sitting there reading some book off the shelf behind him about space and looked up every now and then to see Minho mumble softly in his sleep.

The bell rang and Changbin nudged him gently to wake him up.

“Lunch is over.” Minho turned to face him and his sleepy expression made Changbin’s stomach twist. 

His voice was slurred from being woken up. “Let me sleep.”

Minho closed his eyes again and Changbin sank back down in his chair. Changbin checked his schedule and then looked back at Minho who had curled himself up on the couch, one arm hanging off the edge. Changbin sighed and fought with the redness on his cheeks once again. He had P.E. now anyway, he could afford to miss that class.


	9. i never knew you could be so savage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all!  
> tomorrow is christmas so there might not be an upload until the 26th :(
> 
> i hope y'all have lovely holidays or just a nice time in general!
> 
> chapter title is from Savage by Lights

Things were.... weird after that lunch break. The next day, Minho seemed to be making a conscious decision to stay out of Changbin’s way for once and for some stupid reason, all Changbin wanted was to get closer to him.

He had spent the entire evening after school not being able to get the picture of a sleepy Minho out of his mind and eventually gave in and just let himself daydream.

So maybe he did have a crush. Whatever, he would grow out of it. 

Minho genuinely seemed like a good guy who just needed some attention from someone to keep him out of trouble. And that’s how Changbin had decided to just try and become Minho’s friend.

Easier said than done though.

He didn’t see Minho at all during lunch or anywhere around school and he tried hard to ignore the feeling of disappointment that overcame him. Instead, Changbin decided to spend the afternoon in the library, studying for the soon upcoming semester exams. He was going to stay in the city this weekend, trying to study as much as he could. 

When he left the library, it was already dark outside and a few snowflakes sauntered slowly down from the sky.

Changbin tightened the jacket around him and walked home at a brisk pace. He was about to turn right into the alley to his house, when he saw a group of guys standing around another one who crouched on the ground.

The guys were standing with their backs to Changbin so he couldn’t see their faces, but their voices made his ears perk up.

“Not so tough now, huh?” The tall guy kicked the guy on the ground in the stomach, who sank down on all fours.

The three guys that threatened him before the school year started. One of them moved a bit to the side and a shock ran through Changbin’s body when he realized Minho was the guy currently wincing in pain on the ground.

The guys hadn’t noticed Changbin yet, but he couldn’t take on all of them by himself. He didn’t know how badly Minho had been beaten up until now so who knows if he would be of any help.

Changbin’s eyes darted around the alley trying to come up with a solution quickly.

His eyes landed on a broken bottle at the entrance of the alley. That wouldn’t scare them off. Behind it though, Changbin saw a tire iron, and that definitely would.

For a second he wondered who on earth would just throw a tire iron out into the alley, but then he grabbed it and got the guys’ attention.

“Hey, assholes!” Their heads whipped round to look at Changbin. Changbin’s eyes darted down to Minho for a moment, who stared at him with wide eyes. “Shouldn’t we make this a bit fairer, number-wise?”

The taller guy angrily spat onto the ground. “Fuck off, cocksucker.”

Changbin held up the tire iron, swirling it around in his hand for a moment. “What’d you just call me?”

One of the shorter guys flinched at the sight of the iron. “Hell no, I’m not up for this shit.”

The taller guy turned to him. “You think he even knows how to swing that at someone?”

The shorter guy didn’t even listen to the end of his question and immediately took off, jumping over Minho to escape the alley on the other side.

Changbin let out a laugh and a strange sense of excitement rushed through him. “Two on two, now that’s much better.”

They were separated only by a few steps and Minho groaned. “Run…”

Something about the way he saw Minho cowering on the ground, holding his stomach in pain made Changbin angry. He swung the iron towards the taller guy’s arms, where he wouldn’t actually injure him and expected the guy to flinch and run.

He didn’t.

The second guy backed away further from the group, seemingly wanting to make a run for it out of the alley, but the big guy just grabbed the other end of the tire iron and smirked at Changbin.

“Bad move, kid.”

Changbin’s eyes flitted over to Minho, who gave him a quick nod and winced when he stretched out his leg to kick the tall guy’s legs out from under him.

The guy tumbled to the ground with a surprised yell and let go of the iron. Changbin threw the iron away - he was sure the guy would cause more damage to him with it than Changbin could do. As the dude tried to get up again, something in Changbin’s brain short-circuited and he felt his knuckles connect with the guy’s jaw before he even realized he was punching him.

“Leave him the fuck alone!” He landed another punch from the other side and the guy seemed disoriented for a second before he pushed Changbin back, now towering over him.

“Getting brave now, are we?” He let out a laugh and tried to dish out some punches to Changbin, but Changbin ducked away, grabbing the guy’s hand and twisting it around to his back. The guy groaned in pain and tried to get free, but Changbin had his arm in a tight grip.

“I said”, Changbin’s voice came out as a growl, “Leave him the fuck alone.”

The guy was still moaning from the painful twist Changbin had his arm in. “Alright! Alright, fine! Let me go, asshole!”

Changbin shoved the guy away from him who stumbled for a moment until he shot an angry look back at him and fled the alley.

For a second, Changbin just stood there in the snow staring after him before he remembered that Minho was there with him. He knelt down next to him and helped him get up slowly.

“You okay?”

Minho raised an eyebrow at Changbin. “I’ll be fine.” He smiled crookedly at Changbin and was about to walk off in the other direction but paused to wink at Changbin. 

“Thanks for saving me. I guess you got some fight in you... you really are impressive.”

“You’re home late… did you stay at school for that long?”

Changbin’s dad was currently warming up the portion of dinner for Changbin that he had left as Changbin sat down at the kitchen table.

“What happened to your hands?”, he asked as he put the plate down in front of Changbin.

Changbin looked down at his red knuckles, two of them were scratched and bleeding a little bit.

“Had to defend someone from a bully.”

Changbin’s dad looked doubtful but let it slide as he watched his son eat his dinner.

Before Changbin left to go to sleep, his dad pulled him aside once more. “Promise me you’re not gonna start getting in trouble like the Lee kid.”

“Promise.”

As Changbin lay down in bed, he looked up at his ceiling, thinking back to Minho’s words.

_ You really are impressive. _

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	10. got yourself a bad habit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i lied, i'm posting anyway lol
> 
> i would like to take a moment to thank you all for your lovely comments, they make every day a bright one for me and i look forward to reading them every day! :D <3
> 
> unfortunately the ending of this story got a bit rushed but i'm trying to revise it a little at the moment but not sure how good itll eventually be so pls forgive in advance :(
> 
> have a lovely day ahead!
> 
> chapter title comes from Bad Habit by The Kooks

The sky was grey and overcast when Changbin made his way to Minho’s house in the afternoon. It only took him ten minutes to get there but when he was finally standing outside the gate of the massive building in front of him, he hesitated.

Maybe he should just go back home and study like he had intended. But then the thought of Minho, in pain, telling him he was impressive, was back on his mind and he rang the bell at the gate.

“Yes?” A woman’s voice answered him.

Changbin was flustered for a moment. “Ah, yes, it’s Seo Changbin. I’m Minho’s.... Friend.”

“Friend?” The woman sounded confused. She buzzed Changbin in anyway and he slowly made his way down the perfectly cleared of snow driveway.

The big wooden door to the mansion flung open and a lady in an expensive looking outfit opened the door.

“You’re Minho’s  _ friend _ ?” She had one of her hands on her hips and Changbin didn’t like the way she said the last word of her question.

He nodded and the woman let him in with a surprised face. 

“He’s in his room. Upstairs, second door on the left.” With that, she disappeared down a long hallway and Changbin climbed the big fancy stairs up to the second floor. The house looked like something from a movie. Big art pieces were hanging on the cream colored walls, high ceilings with light fixtures and long hallways with many doors wherever he looked.

He knocked lightly on the second door and willed his pulse to return back to its normal frequency, his heart beating out of his chest. What should he even say to Minho?

Minho yelled something that Changbin couldn’t understand so he knocked again.

A minute later, Minho opened the door with a scowl. As soon as he recognized Changbin’s face, his expression turned into a surprised one. He was wearing just a t-shirt and sweatpants and his hair looked like he had been lying in bed the whole day. The image of him like this made Changbin’s heart beat even faster, being such a stark contrast to the brooding guy usually dressed in leather jackets or a school uniform.

“What are you doing here?”

Changbin had expected anger but Minho sounded genuinely confused. His eyes drifted down to the cups in Changbin’s hands.

“I wanted to check in on you… if you’re okay. I brought milkshakes.”

Minho raised an eyebrow and opened the door to his room wider, so Changbin could come in.

Changbin’s eyes took in Minho’s room for a moment. There were books everywhere he looked - the shelves, the desk, the floor, at the foot of his bed. The curtains were drawn so only a little bit of light from outside came through and Minho closed the door behind Changbin. They stood awkwardly for a second before Minho grabbed one of the milkshakes and cleared a stack of books off the chair at his desk. He motioned Changbin to sit as he sank down on his bed, sitting cross legged.

Changbin sat down and slurped his milkshake for a minute. Minho did the same, eyes narrowed at Changbin.

“Milkshake in winter?” Minho chuckled dryly. “I’m fine, you know. You didn’t have to come.”

Minho leaned his back against the wall behind him, his shirt riding up for a moment. Changbin could see a big bruise starting to form on his lower abdomen and pulled a face.

“Are you sure? Why didn’t you fight back?” Changbin felt kind of dumb. He played with the straw of his milkshake and tried to avoid eye contact.

“I’m sure.” There was a long pause. “I’m trying not to… fight. Like I said, I’m fine. But thanks for the milkshake.”

Minho’s voice sounded softer than Changbin had ever heard it before, which made his eyes drift back to him, seeing Minho look down at his milkshake with a soft smile on his lips.

“You have a lot of books.” Changbin knew that it was a stupid thing to say, he was desperately scrambling to find something to talk about.

Minho hummed. “I like to read. No one bothers you when you’re reading.”

Changbin felt guilty for having disturbed him. He shouldn’t have come, he should just leave now.

Minho interrupted his thought process, correcting himself. “But it’s nice that you came to check on me.”

He looked strange, his expression so different from his usual cocky or cold stare. Minho looked hopeful and kind of shy. Based on his mother’s reaction to the word friend, Changbin assumed that Minho probably didn’t have many, if any at all.

“It looks like you haven’t been sleeping much…”

Minho looked embarrassed for a moment. “It’s because of the cigarettes.”

“Cigarettes?”

Minho let out a deep sigh. “I used to smoke when I was outside… and I don’t do that much anymore, except for the cats. So I’m trying to distract myself by reading more. But I don’t sleep much because of it.”

Another long pause, a deafening silence hanging in the air around them.

“What are you reading?”, Changbin tried again, searching for words to fill the silence.

Minho shrugged but eventually ended up telling Changbin the whole plot of a three part series he was reading at the moment and after a while, the awkwardness melted away. They sat there for a long time, just talking about books and movies and Changbin thought it was nice, seeing this side of Minho. 

He seemed genuinely happy, different from his usual self. Changbin wondered how long he had been hiding behind the facade of a stoic young man.

The light streaming in from the window faded into a dark grey sky and eventually someone knocked on Minho’s door, Minho’s mother’s muffled voice coming through the door.

“Dinner in ten. There’s a portion for your friend too.”

He didn’t know why, but panic began to rise in Changbin. “Oh no, please don’t. I should go home…”

Minho’s face went through a sequence of different emotions, a hopeful look remaining in his eyes. “Please stay.”

It sounded like a plea and Changbin’s heart sank a little. He nodded and Minho disappeared into a big walk-in closet for a moment before returning with a different shirt.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed Changbin by the wrist and dragged him down the stairs and through the long hallway into a big dining room.

Minho’s parents were already sitting at the dining table, smiling when Changbin sat down.

“You must be Changbin”, Minho’s father said, giving Changbin a slight nod. “You’re the first friend of Minho’s we meet.”

Minho, who was sitting next to Changbin, clenched his jaw and Changbin could see him grabbing the chair tightly as he slid it closer to the table.

“Can we not do this?” Minho’s voice was quiet, his eyes fixed on the plate in front of him.

Changbin thanked the Lee’s for the meal and took a bite before responding to Minho’s dad. “I moved here at the beginning of the school year, Minho really helped me a lot since I moved here.”

He could feel Minho staring at him, but Changbin kept his eyes on Minho’s parents who exchanged a look.

“Changbin” Minho’s mother’s voice was dripping with fake sweetness. “You seem like a nice boy, I don’t think you should be hanging around a person like our son.”

Minho opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by his father.

“What my wife is trying to say is, if he has forced you to come here to prove something to us, please feel free to let us know. We know that he can be quite the… problem child.”

Changbin’s brows furrowed as Minho dropped his cutlery onto his plate with a loud clunk. 

“With all due respect, Mr. and Mrs. Lee”, Changbin let one of his hands drop from the table down to pinch Minho’s thigh in an effort to stop him from fighting with his parents. “Your son has, literally, saved my life on numerous occasions. The cherry on top was probably when he protected me from a serial killer that was arrested a little while ago.”

Minho stilled and flicked his eyes to Changbin, grabbing his hand to remove it from his thigh but he didn’t move it away, just kept his hand tightly clasped around Changbin’s.

Minho’s parents’ attention turned towards Minho. 

His mom seemed confused and asked, “What is this boy talking about? What serial killer?”

Minho sighed, still not moving his hand. Changbin felt his cheeks heat up at the skin contact. If Minho’s parents were confused, that meant that Minho hadn’t even told them about the attack.

“He’s right. We were abducted. And held captive. And we got out. So nothing happened.”

His dad lowered his cutlery. “How did we not hear about this?”

His wife put a hand on his arm. “Wait, I think they called me… the police. But I was at the neighbor’s for the baby shower…”

The entire situation made Changbin want to throw up. He found it disgusting. How could Minho’s mom not care about her son narrowly escaping death because of a fucking baby shower?!

“Did you anger the attacker, Minho?” Minho’s dad’s voice was stern.

Changbin couldn’t believe his ears and was about to get up and give them a piece of his mind, when Minho suddenly interlaced their fingers, their hands still resting on his thigh below the table. The words died in Changbin’s throat and his reply came out more croaky then he would have liked.

“I can assure you that Minho came to my rescue and didn’t anger anyone. Without him I would be dead by now.”

Minho’s parents looked at him wordlessly, a mix of confusion, doubt and surprise on their faces. They didn’t seem to want to get more into this discussion and just resumed their meal.

The rest of the dinner was spent in silence and eventually Minho let go of Changbin’s hand so they could both eat, though Changbin’s appetite had disappeared completely.


	11. this old world is a new world, and a bold world for me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!
> 
> i hope you all had lovely holidays and if you didn't celebrate christmas that you had a relaxing time~  
> it started snowing here last night and i unfortunately have to work but am writing on a couple things at the moments so even though this story is about to end i hope you will look forward to some more of my weird stuff!
> 
> there's only one more short chapter after this but without further ado, please enjoy!
> 
> chapter title comes from Feeling Good by Nina Simone/Avicii/Audra May/the sense8 soundtrack idk a lot of people cover this one apparently lol

After the fateful dinner at Minho’s, Changbin started spending more time with Minho at school. He usually just sat down with him for lunch, rambling on about random stuff while Minho was either reading his book or trying to force himself to eat the cafeteria food since Changbin had threatened to force feed him if he wouldn’t start eating enough meals a day.

Changbin had left Minho’s house the evening of the dinner with Minho showing him out.

“Thanks for… what you said.” Minho’s voice had sounded small.

It had started snowing outside while they had eaten dinner and Minho asked Changbin if he should walk him home, but Changbin shook his head.

“It’s not that far, so I’m good. Make sure to heal.” Before he left, he turned around a last time, halfway down the driveway. “You’re not a problem child, you know. You’re a pretty good guy, Minho.”

Changbin had hurried home after that, his burning red cheeks being only slightly cooled by the snowflakes landing on them.

It had been three weeks since then and the winter break was only one day away, making Changbin excited during lunch.

“My friends are gonna come visit this week”, he mumbled around a mouthful at food, Minho throwing him a look that Changbin ignored. “I wanted to hang out, all of us. You know, my friends, Jeongin, Seungmin, you.”

Minho’s eyebrows raised at that and Changbin felt a blush coming on, so he lowered his face to focus solely on the lunch tray below him.

“Me?”

Changbin nodded, pushing a few meek vegetables around. “Yeah. I mean, if you want to.”

There was a long silence and it took everything in Changbin not to raise his head to look if Minho was even still taking part in their conversation or if he had opened a book instead.

“Sure.” Changbin lifted his head and prayed to every god he could think of that his face wasn’t red. Minho shrugged and looked down on his own tray. It looked like his own face had gained some color and Changbin wondered if Minho had ever gotten invited anywhere.

“Really?”

Minho nodded and held out his hand towards Changbin. “Give me your phone so I can put my number in.”

Changbin picked up Felix, Jisung and Hyunjin at the bus stop the next day, all bundled up in his coat and a thick scarf. It hadn’t stopped snowing since last night and his friends let out noises of complaint as they got off the warm, heated bus.

Hyunjin whined as he got off the bus. “Can’t we just go for another drive with the bus?”

Jisung agreed as Changbin pulled them into a group hug. “It’s fucking freezing!”

Changbin grinned widely at them. “Let’s get your stuff to my place and then we’ll meet up at the arcade with the others.”

On the way to Changbin’s apartment, Felix tried to question him about the others.

“I thought I told you everything about them already?”, Changbin countered.

Felix shrugged. “I understand Jeongin and Seungmin, I guess. But why is Minho coming?”

Changbin hadn’t told his friends about the day he had gone to Minho’s. What had happened that day felt… special to him. It seemed to be something that he should guard and protect, something that was fragile and needed to be sheltered, even from his friends.

He realized that he hadn’t said anything for a while. “We’re kinda friends now.”

The answer didn’t seem to satisfy Felix but they reached Changbin’s apartment and the interrogation was put on hold as Changbin’s friends dropped off their bags in the apartment.

The atmosphere was awkward when they reached the arcade.

Jeongin and Seungmin were waiting by the entrance for them, Minho stood off to the side, leaning against the wall.

The introductions were enthusiastic (Jisung and Felix), shy (Seungmin and Jeongin) and tense (Hyunjin and Minho) while Changbin just stood kind of helplessly in the middle.

They eventually made their way inside and the conversations seemed to take on a bit of a lighter and more easy going tone as they played various games.

At one point, Minho had pulled Changbin aside to ask him to please reassure Jisung that he really, honestly, did not have a secret twitter account. Meanwhile, Seungmin and Hyunjin were having a basketball duel with Felix cheering at them from the sidelines.

A while later, they all sat down to have some snacks and drinks, Minho’s leg bouncing under the table next to Changbin and Changbin was tempted to put his hand on his thigh too still it. That made him remember Minho holding his hand during the dinner with his parents and he quickly tried to focus on the discussion Hyunjin, Jeongin and Felix were having about various types of fish at the moment.

Jisung eyed the photo booth next to them with a thoughtful stare before turning to the rest of the group.

“Guys, I have a brilliant idea.”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes at him. “As brilliant as when you wanted to microwave tinfoil?”

Jisung glared at him before smiling. “Let’s do rock, paper, scissors - the two worst players have to take couple photos in the photo booth.”

Felix let out a sigh. “Stop trying to get people to take dumb pictures with you, Sungie…”

Jeongin seemed excited at the prospect of making someone embarrass themselves. “Let’s do it!”

Apparently, Jeongin had the others under some magic spell, because before Changbin knew it, he was the only one not holding his arm stretched out on the table.

Minho nudged him in the side. “If you don’t play, you lose.”

Honestly, it didn’t matter if Changbin played or not - in the end he lost anyway. He was too caught up in yelling because he lost to notice who the second loser was, until Jeongin pushed him and Minho towards the photo booth, accompanied by some hollering from the others.

“And now?” Minho whispered the question and when Changbin looked at him inside the tiny photo booth, he noticed Minho’s red ears.

The close proximity made Changbin’s heart beat faster and Minho blinked at him rapidly a few times, waiting for an answer.

Changbin sighed and put a coin in the machine. “We got four pictures. So… I don’t know, just pull a face or something?”

Minho did as he was told for the first two pictures, grimacing and pulling on Changbin’s cheek. As soon as the second shutter sound had stopped, Minho suddenly pulled Changbin closer to himself, making Changbin look up at him with wide eyes.

“It was couple pictures, no?”

Another shutter sound.

Changbin thought that maybe time had stopped. They were just staring at each other, the ticking of the countdown to the last photo in the background. 

Minho reached a hand up to cup Changbin’s cheek and moved his head slightly closer. Changbin couldn’t read the expression on his face, he had never seen Minho look like this - hopeful, peaceful, shy.

The last shutter sound, followed by a little jingle to signify their picture time was over, stopped Minho’s movements towards Changbin and he pulled away while clearing his throat.

“Uhm, okay. Done.” 

He left the photo booth before Changbin could utter a single word.

The next hour and a half, Changbin and Minho were teased mercilessly for the pictures by the others. Felix kept throwing some questioning glances towards Changbin but didn’t say anything.

Changbin won a plushie at one of the claw machines and handed it to a surprised looking Minho, with Jisung blurting out some flirty  _ oohs  _ at him and Changbin kind of wanted the ground to just open up and swallow him whole.

The group parted ways once they had left the arcade, Jeongin and Seungmin walking off towards the west end of town, while Minho insisted on walking Changbin and his friends back to their apartment as it was on his way home anyway.

That wasn’t entirely true, because Changbin knew that there was a shortcut to Minho’s house from the arcade, but he didn’t mention it.

Changbin opened the door to the apartment complex for his friends, but stayed behind for a moment to say goodbye to Minho.

They were standing under the streetlight a few steps away from the front door, snow softly falling around them and Changbin was at a loss for words. He didn’t want to go inside. If he could, he would stand here forever, just watching the snow fall in silence with Minho.

Minho’s voice sounded loud in the stillness of the night, though he spoke quietly. “Thanks for inviting me. I had a good time.”

Changbin flicked his eyes over to look at him. His ears were red again, just like his nose was from the cold. There was a soft smile on his face and Changbin’s heart clenched at the sight of him.

“Would you like to go out again sometime?”

Minho chuckled and it sounded heavenly to Changbin. “Sure.”

“I mean…” Now or never. “Just with me.”

Minho’s smile faded into a surprised face.

Changbin fought with himself. Maybe this was a bad idea, he didn’t even know if Minho was at all interested in him. He could just play it off as a joke. He could just say he meant like a hang out.

“Like… as a date?”

There was something in Minho’s voice when he asked the question that made Changbin throw all caution to the wind.

“Yes.”


	12. barricades & smoke grenades (couldn't stop my heart from finding you)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!
> 
> first off i'd like to say that i wanted to leave this fic in a ditch to die after i wrote the first chapter but it was all of yalls great, funny, nice and sweet comments that got me motivated enough to actually finish it
> 
> i really appreciate all of you reading this and as we are nearing the end of the year i am incredibly happy to finally be back to writing again after five years and to be accepted so warmly in the kpop/skz fic community here :')
> 
> this chapter is really short and i apologize for the rushed ending - i tried to bend it to my will for two days but as with most of this fic, it just kind of ran its own way leaving me powerless.
> 
> i nevertheless hope you enjoy it!
> 
> chapter title is from Riot by Matt Black

Changbin’s friends had lost their minds when Changbin told them about the whole situation.

“I knew it!” Hyunjin pointed his finger excitedly at Changbin. “The crush!”

Changbin’s face was burning up. “You said he had a crush but it’s me…”

Hyunjin shook his head. “If he brought up the date idea then-”

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Bin?” Felix looked concerned. “I know he’s a nice guy but… you know that he’s trouble.”

Changbin felt defensive. “Not anymore. He’s not fighting anymore, he’s never at the station.”

Felix looked surprised. “You didn’t tell us that.”

Jisung sidled up to Changbin and threw an arm around his shoulder. “What else haven’t you told us, Changbinnieeee…?”

The next time Changbin talked with Minho was four days later after he had said goodbye to his friends at the bus stop. He texted Minho that his friends had gone back to the suburbs and that Changbin was now free whenever Minho had time.

Minho didn’t reply for hours and Changbin spent the entire time overthinking whether Minho had changed his mind about the date. He almost slipped on the wooden floors as he sprinted to his bed, toothbrush still in his mouth, when he heard the incoming message chime.

_ I will pick you up at 6pm tomorrow. _

Changbin spent way too long on trying to find a good outfit to wear the next day and felt stupid about it when he realized his clothes would be hidden under the winter jacket anyway.

His doorbell rang at six sharp and Changbin rushed down the stairs so quickly he almost slipped down the entire last flight.

Minho stood outside, hands in his jacket pockets and smiled slightly when Changbin came to a stop in front of him, the apartment complex door falling shut behind him.

“Hi.” His breath left little clouds drifting through the cold air.

“Hi.”

It should have been awkward. Somehow, it wasn’t.

They had a conversation about what Changbin had been up to with his friends and the books Minho had read recently and eventually ended up at the street close to the river, filled with food stands on both sides.

Minho bought them both some snacks and Changbin felt a jolt of excitement run through him every time Minho brushed lightly against him while walking.

They walked along the river for a while, before Changbin saw a bright light shoot up into the air, followed by a bright firework bursting in the black night sky.

They stopped and watched the sky in awe as more and more fireworks followed, soft music drifting faintly through the air from the last food stands behind them.

“It’s beautiful!” Changbin felt euphoric. He felt Minho’s warmth next to him, pressed arm against arm, his eyes fixed on the colors lighting up the sky.

Minho didn’t say anything and after a moment, Changbin turned to him to find Minho staring at him with big eyes, bottom lip caught between his teeth. 

Changbin wanted to say something, ask if he was okay, but he didn’t get a chance to.

Minho had pulled him close within a second, holding his face in his hands, his cold lips meeting Changbin’s.

The noise of the fireworks, the music, the cold air, it all seemed to disappear and Changbin’s mind went blank. All he could focus on was Minho and he kissed him back.

It felt like an eternity had passed to Changbin when Minho pulled away slightly, both of them catching their breaths, faces still close.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.”

Changbin was confused and his thoughts took a moment to get organized before he could reply. “What do you mean?”

Minho’s cheeks were red and he broke eye contact with Changbin. “Since the first day I saw you.”

Oh.

It suddenly all made sense to Changbin and he wondered how he could have been so blind. Following Changbin around, protecting him from bullies and assholes wanting to hurt him, looking for his phone and telling him about himself, opening up to Changbin.

The last few fireworks lit up the darkness around them as Changbin smiled and kissed Minho again.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know ur thots my friends~
> 
> and as always, have a fresh day or night ahead everyone!


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